


It gets better in the end

by flightinflame



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), Time Loop, Todd Brotzman is a Good Boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 04:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14686701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Todd felt he should have known something was Wrong when his boyfriend's reaction to his new shirt was buying black out curtains.In which Todd's apartment is invaded by a very confused and familiar Blackwing subject, and Dirk knows more than he's letting on.





	It gets better in the end

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in one go because the idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Thanks to Triffidsandcuckoos and lourdesdeath for their help

Todd felt he should have known something was Wrong when his boyfriend's reaction to his new shirt was buying black out curtains, but he pushed it aside as one of Dirk's weird little "eccentricities" and hunches. The CD of seaside noises was frankly annoying, but Dirk looked so nervous when he turned it off that he tolerated it. Dirk seemed to be nesting, buying a new first aid kit (never a good sign) and a number of blankets, and wandering around the apartment looking distracted.

The morning he found that Dirk had hidden the photograph of Amanda he always kept on his coffee table, he'd been pissed off. Then at lunch time he'd spilled coffee down his shirt, and Dirk had looked at him with what could best be described as utter horror.  
"I need a walk," Dirk muttered. "I'll be back soon-" He left, and Todd sighed, working on making a list. If Dirk wasn't going to tell him what was wrong, then he was going to have to work it out himself.

He could only assume that Dirk knew something was going to happen, the question was what.

There was a loud crash from the bathroom, and Todd got up cautiously, grabbing the baseball bat his sister had left shoved down the side of the sofa. He felt slightly more confident as he gripped it, walking to the bathroom door and pushing it open.

A boy of about eleven was sitting in their bath, all gangly limbs and wide eyes, wearing a smaller size of the jumpsuit that Dirk had been wearing when they'd found him.   
"Hey?" Todd greeted him. "Are you okay there? What's your name?"  
"Svlad," the boy answered quietly, and Todd cringed slightly.  
"Okay, hello Svlad, I'm -"  
"Don't," Dirk had appeared behind Todd. "Don't tell him your name."  
"What?" Todd blinked. "Should you even be here?"  
"I was last time," Dirk said softly, then turned to the boy in the bath. "Get out of there. This is Tom, he's my assistant. My name is Dirk Gently, I'm a holistic detective."

Svlad gazed at him curiously, eyes wide as he stepped out of the bath, perching awkwardly on the edge.   
"I thought I was the only one,"  
Dirk shrugged a little, looking at him and smiling. Svlad hesitated, then frowned.  
"They'll come looking for me you know?" he said softly. "You can't kidnap me, Riggins is going to find me."  
"You think he cares about you?" Dirk asked, and there was an edge to his voice there, an anger shining brightly in his eyes.  
"He does," Svlad answered. "I'm his ward, he..."  
"Do you even know what that means?" Dirk asked, staring at him.   
"It means I help him-"  
"It means that he's legally responsible for you," Dirk interrupted. "It means that he has to sign off on what happens to you. All of what happens to you."

Todd stared between the two of them, wondering why on earth Dirk hadn't bothered warning him that this was coming. He wanted to scream at him but he was still carrying on, and the boy was cowering back  
"And when you get back, he's going to sign off on Priest finding out what happened."  
The boy whimpered, shaking his head.  
"I'm going home," he mumbled, and Dirk sighed.  
"Your cuts are infected. Now, you can stay here for three days, get treated, have a nice time. You can watch movies and eat ice cream and have cookies. And then you go home. Or you can continue to be a brat and I will drive you back to Blackwing myself right now."

Dirk's voice was shaking, and Todd reached out, putting his hand on his shoulder, knowing that was an empty threat but still hating Dirk for saying it.  
"So wha's it gonna be boy? Wha' you gonna choose?" Dirk asked, and if Todd had found Dirk's attempt at his own accent laughable, this was horrifying. Svlad curled up, tears running down his face, and his arms wrapped around himself.

"Dirk." Todd snapped, moving to position himself between the two of them. "Don't be like that. He's just a kid."  
Dirk huffed slightly, and swallowed, and nodded.  
"I'm sorry Tom," he said, then turned to the boy. "I'm sorry. Look, you aren't kidnapped. But I think even if we take you back now - well, let us help."  
The boy hesitated, and then he nodded, the movement making fresh tears drip down his face.

"Is this... this is another test, isn't it?"  
Dirk hesitated, then nodded.   
"It's your birthday ...well, it was your birthday yesterday, wasn't it?"  
Svlad nodded.  
"Thirteen years old?" Dirk asked, and another nod. "Old enough for them to step up the testing. Come on, we've got a sofa you can sleep on, there's blankets. Let me see the cuts."

The boy slipped the jumpsuit from his shoulders, tying it at his waist, and following them through. Dirk reached under the sofa, pulling out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in the boy's size. The boy settled, lying back on the sofa, cringing slightly as he lifted his white tank top to reveal red gashes, one running from his navel up towards his throat, and others crossing it. They were scars Todd recognised, ones he'd traced on Dirk a dozen times - Dirk always had a different explanation, the most memorable being alien abduction - but he was used to the lines being faded. These were still angry, still raw, red and swollen.

"What-" he began to ask, but Dirk was already sat by the boy, handing him some pills and water. The boy took them without blinking, without hesitating, and Dirk began by using a local anaesthetic cream before he started to treat the injuries. The boy flinched in anticipation of pain, before looking at him curiously.  
"Painkillers," Dirk said softly. "Look, I'm sorry I... I'm sorry I yelled at you."  
"It's alright," Svlad said in response, trying not to squirm as Dirk carefully cleaned his wounds. "Everyone always does."

"It won't always be like that," Dirk promised. "I used to think it would be for me too. But things got better."  
Svlad nodded.   
"Why am I here, if this isn't a kidnapping?"  
"Those cuts are already starting to turn into a bad infection. If you were at Blackwing they'd continue with the tests, and when you fail you'd get in more trouble. Untreated, these would kill you in a few weeks, and you'd hide it, because you don't want to get yourself punished."

Svlad nodded slowly, looking up at Dirk with a curious expression and then falling quiet.  
"Three days huh?"  
"Three days." Dirk agreed. "Then you're… then you'll end up back at Blackwing, and you'll be in trouble. And I know you're going to try and get back here again, but it won't work. This is a one-time only deal from the universe."   
"Next…Next time I go the long way round?" Svlad asked, and Dirk nodded, pulling his tank top back down over fresh bandages and embracing him.

Todd looked at the two of them, and was left with the distinct impression that he knew less about what was happening than the other two.  
"I've tried to make sure there's no personal information you can find," Dirk told Svlad. "The windows are covered, the sounds are on a tape, and if we go anywhere you have to close your eyes until we say otherwise."  
The boy nodded, and Todd stared.  
"What's going on?"  
"He's going straight back to Priest, and he's going to tell him everything he can remember about what happens," Dirk said softly. "The less he knows, the safer you are."

Todd swallowed, staring at the boy, then turning away as he started to undress, removing his jumpsuit, as unashamed as Dirk always was of about being undressed in front of other people.  
"I'm sorry to bother you like this," Svlad said when he was dressed. "I'm sure you've got better things to do..."  
"No, it's fine," Todd said quickly. "I'm honestly... so glad that you are here. Just ... Dirk and I need to talk quickly okay? You aren't in any trouble, but I need to..." He paused, and Svlad nodded, closing his eyes and putting his fingers in his ears. Todd headed to the kitchen, pulling Dirk along with him.

"Why didn't you mention this?" he hissed at him.  
"Because I thought it was a fever dream. I couldn't let myself believe it was real, I'd convinced myself it was a lie until... well, until I saw that shirt, and even then... it could have just been coincidence."

 

Todd stared at him in disbelief.  
"Dirk, your whole thing is coincidences."  
"I know," Dirk answered. "I just... it hurt. To get sent back there, and finding... finding that I... the long way round's hard."

Todd embraced him for a second.  
"You still should have told me."  
"I should," Dirk agreed with a sigh. "I'm sorry."  
"I know." Todd hesitated. "So what's the plan?"

"We let him rest, and go to the park, the one that's a few blocks over, and we eat ice cream, and we get him a birthday cake - a blue one, with green icing on, that says 'Happy Birthday' all in capitals. And I make sure he takes his antibiotics, and we watch films." Dirk closed his eyes and swallowed "And on the third day, after a breakfast of pancakes and you setting off the smoke alarm, he goes to use the bathroom and he finds himself back in Blackwing."

"You... you really don't think we can change that?" Todd asked, and Dirk shook his head.  
"It doesn't work like that. And he'll be scared, he might cry..." he swallowed and shook his head. "And when he gets back, he's going to be angry. And he'll stay angry for a long time, but its... it's what happens. It's what always happens," Dirk swallowed. "We can't change that."

Todd hesitated, arguments dying bitterly in his mouth. He knew that Dirk was right, but he had no idea what he could possibly say to make it better. This was Dirk's reality, and he couldn't fix it. 

Dirk smiled, and that smile was a little shaky.  
"Just... just help it be good. For three days. Give him a memory worth fighting for."  
Todd nodded, walking back out to the sofa where the boy was lying, his knees curled up to his chest.  
"Hey Svlad."  
"Hi Tom," the boy paused. "I'm sorry if I made you argue."  
"You didn't," Todd answered, before pulling him into a hug. Svlad tensed for a moment, and then leaned into the embrace, the same joyful expression on his face as Dirk had when he was held.


End file.
